Examples of growing confidence and improved wellbeing abound as a consequence of our work. Here some of our reading group members, trainees and commissioners, share their experiences of Get Into Reading.

From readers:

Lesley Tinsley, GIR Group Member, Sefton:
“I really think that the reading group helps with your mental health. Other people might just think it’s a reading group and nothing to do with mental health, but I think that the group has really helped me with my mental health. Sometimes before the group I feel restless and anxious – like I can’t settle – but then when I go into the reading group I can start to relax and feel better.”
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Louise Jones, GIR Group Member, Birkenhead:
“The Deputy Head of Nursing said after initially calming me down, “Is that reading thing you go to on? Because they seem able to do things with you no-one else can”. So off I toddled and within about five minutes of arriving at the group, I had a smile on my face!”
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Colin MacGregor, GIR Group Member, Liverpool:
“I’ve only missed one session all year – work appointments get moved or cancelled but I see the reading group as non-negotiable date in the diary. They’re a safe-haven. No phone calls. No hassles. No interruptions.”
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From commissioners:

Alan Yates, Chief Executive, Mersey Care NHS Trust:
“I can identify people within Get Into Reading at Mersey Care NHS Trust who otherwise would have needed in-patient care had it not been for the support and benefit of the groups. Groups cost about £6 per person per session; by comparison, an in-patient stay costs on average £9,000.”

Ros Sudworth, Area Manager, Library and Information Services East Lancashire:
“By working with the Reader Organisation, East Lancashire libraries have been able to develop an inclusive and lively Get Into Reading programme, using trained library staff and volunteers. A ‘Celebration Day’ in Sept 2010 made it very evident just how much Get Into Reading contributes to our corporate shared objectives. It was wonderful to hear directly from service users with learning disabilities, and those living with a range of mental health problems just how much being involved in these weekly groups has done for them. East Lancashire Libraries recognises the value and potential of the Get Into Reading model.”

From trainees:

Geraldine Keenan, Teacher at Hydebank Wood Young Offenders and Prison, Belfast:
“I have never in my 18 years of teaching attended a course which I felt was so purposefully planned and managed. Each activity was relevant, meaningful and interesting.”
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At Redholme Memory Care Home, a reading culture is developing and it isn’t just about the weekly group.

Staff, volunteers and family members have taken on training to deliver one-to-one reading sessions and one of the day centre members also helps to run a group. One staff member, Peter told us:

“This was a surprise to me. I’m not good at reading. I’ve never been a reader myself. But I saw the effect it had on people I work with. People who I thought didn’t have that left in them, I watched them in the reading group and they came alive, they talked about their lives and it made you realise there is more there than what you see.”
“I’ll tell you the truth; I’m a duck out of water here. Really. And it’s taken a lot of guts and courage to come down this road. But I’ve seen the group, and heard the responses from some of the people I work with and it’s amazing. One man picked up on a point in the poem that I’d completely missed, and I thought – this has brought something out of him, a spark, that is there.”
“There are a lot of people here with a lot to offer, but no-one puts them in a position to get that out of them to ignite that spark. I think the poetry can do that. I don’t know if I can use it that way, that’s what I’m here to see. That is what I want though.”